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Dark Nights Reflections

Dark Nights - Reflections is out on Itch!

Download: https://pinlin.itch.io/dark-nights-reflections

Steam version: Coming November 10.

Features

✦ Revamped art & GUI

✦ 2 routes

✦ 12 endings, 6 per storyline

✦ 10h+ 70k - 85k words per storyline. Total 178,988 words

✦ 30 CG art/5 cut scenes

✦ 70 BGs

✦ 50 Soundtracks

✦ 22 Achievements

✦ Bonus material

whatsabookworm

ITS HEREEEEE

#dark nights #visual novel #otome

softymuii

what will come, will come more sketch

whatsabookworm

this is just a sketch,,, so imagine how much more aura the final art will have raaaaaaaa

dear mister perfect

Drew this nice from TBHX when I definitely cannot afford the time to

#tbhx #凸变英雄X #to be hero x #tbhx nice

bogactivity

I reworked a old toji drawing

whatsabookworm

I think I briefly passed out when I laid eyes on this

#jujutsu kaisen #jjk #fushiguro toji #jujutsu kaisen toji

arknights-archive

Immersive Exploration stickers

#animated #arknights #these are so cute

arknights-archive

3 million weibo followers

#siege #dagda #indra #morgan #arknights

aaaaaaaaaauu

little spamtenna thing i had swimming in my head the past few days

#spamton #spamtenna #spamton g spamton #tenna #mr ant tenna #deltarune

oneluckcatsgirlhero-blog

Kitty :3

whatsabookworm

I love this kitty SOOOOO much

#kpop demon hunters #derpy and sussie

fionainlove

💖 here y'all go crazy

#castlevania nocturne

puckpuckvt

I love the art for this event!! It’s so cool! And Mephisto is so cute in every shot! Hehehe

#love and deepspace #lads sylus

baobei-bu

man with horns >>>>>>

whatsabookworm

IM ABOUT TO LOSE MY MIND

#love and deepspace sylus #love and deepspace

prettycottonmouthlamia

I harp a lot on how I don't think the current episodic release structure for Arknights does it many favors in how it wants to tell its stories, and how it's story manifests for us, but there are some benefits to this type of long form structure, and it's moments that get better with hindsight. It's not impossible to do this in a more contained medium, as this is often a staple of the mystery genre of literature and film, but it is uncommonly employed in video games to great effect, with their contained stories often being played much more straight.

One of the benefits of releasing longer-form content is the ability to both make callbacks and to give additional details that change the meaning in earlier scenes. The most famous in Arknights, at least for me, is the scene in Wei's office in Chapter 2.

In it's original context, this is Wei Yenwu being aloof to the threat of Reunion, not even bothering to properly remember their leader's name. Once you learn though that Talulah is not just Reunion's leader but Wei Yenwu's niece, and suddenly the scene has new context. This is the scene I point to when I want to talk about how much of a slimeball Wei Yenwu is at this point in the story. This isn't him being aloof, this is Wei deliberately holding back information in order to manipulate for himself a better position. By not revealing his stakes, he wants to hold more power at the negotiation tables with Rhodes Island for Lungmen.

Of course he knows the name of the leader of Reunion, how could he not? How could he not remember letting Kaschey go and take her away, prioritizing Lungmen over the safety of his dead brother's daughter? But he's not going to show that to Rhodes Island, a bunch of strangers he intends to use in poor faith.

Now let's talk about a conversation in Chapter 10 you likely haven't thought about in quite some time!

That's right! We're here to talk about Nezzsalem's confrontation with Kal'tsit when she docks with Londinium. This is a really interesting scene that primarily serves initially to offer even more mystique to Kal'tsit and Theresa's assassination. After all, Kal'tsit and Nezzsalem knew each other, they even fought together at least once. The King of the Nachzehrer! He was there when Theresa was assassinated, and here he is now, inquiring about the death of the last pure Wendigo. None of this seems out of the question, but with some more time, it's possible to find this scene strange.

How did he know? Sure, the Nachzehrer thrives off of life and death, but they're more focused on war. The passing of lives to the Myriad Souls is the concern of the Banshees, not the Nachzehrer. Patriot is also not a Sarkaz hero, at least not directly, since he was a Patriot for Ursus, not Kazdel, and he was a supporter of Theresa at that. Given everything we know now, it's pretty unlikely that Patriot would have followed Theresis to Londinium. But it's still not completely out of the question. Babel reveals that the Military Council in its fledgling state knew about where he was.

This is a pretty small aside after Nezzsalem defeats Logos, but it managed to hit me like a brick, because the first thing I remembered was Nezzsalem confronting Kal'tsit about the death of Patriot. Patriot was not just a Wendigo to Nezzsalem, he was something of a son to him. Sure, he might not have been Nezzsalem's only student, but the Nachzehrer are not shown to be a particularly sentimental bunch pretty much ever, so the Sudaram going "Yeah. Your kid" is impactful here. Nezzsalem stands, having beaten Laqueramaline's son in combat, after Aefanyl had proven himself worthy of respect, as an old man thinking about his own son.

This reframes the conversation in Chapter 10. Nezzsalem knows Kal'tsit, it's implied he's known her for a very long time, and it's likely he's seen the different lives of Kal'tsit and likely knew of her involvement in the invasion of Kazdel a couple hundred years ago. So it's now also got that added element of the King of the Nachzehrer coming up to the landship and shaking Kal'tsit by the shoulders going "WHAT DID YOU DO". It provides new context for his anger. Kal'tsit was directly involved in the death of his foster son, just as she was directly involved previously in the destruction of Kazdel and one of the figures behind Babel.

It also adds some depth to Nezzsalem's acceptance. He died a warrior, maybe against one of the most fitting opponents upon all of Terra, and knowing that Patriot chose Kal'tsit quells that anger.

It's all neat. There's more that can be extrapolated from this, such as this providing something of an explanation for Patriot's military ability and potentially even his witchcraft, but those aren't as important or interesting to me. Chapter 14 is a story in a number of ways about the burden and threads of individuals who have lived an immensely long period of time, individuals who have found immortality in one way or another, and the ways that these lives ultimately intersect and weave with one another, and Patriot is another one of those patterns weaved through time.

#arknights